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The bestowing of the President’s Award upon Sir John and Lady Frances Sorrell at last night’s D&AD Awards ceremony did not disguise a poor showing from design groups, particularly in graphics.

D&AD president Simon Waterfall praised the impact of the Sorrells on the design world from the formation of branding consultancy Newell & Sorrell to their work with the London Design Festival and The Sorrell Foundation.

‘The Sorrells have consistently shown resilience, tenacity and faith in the value and power of good design. If you ever want to blunt a diamond, rub it on a Sorrell,’ he says.

But despite a record crop of six Black Pencils, including one for The Partners’s superlative National Gallery Grand Tour project and two for Apple in product, designers were not well rewarded overall.

Apple scooped Black Pencils for both its iMac and iPhone products, making it the biggest single winner of Black Pencils in the D&AD’s 45-year history.

But graphic design did not produce a single silver award, despite receiving thousands of entries and being judged over three categories, with a foreman on each. The Partners notable win was awarded from an advertising category.

Other design categories such as product design, magazine and newspaper design, TV and cinema graphics, branding and packaging, fared marginally better, though design consultancies failed to score highly among the winning names.

Writing for design, and Typography entries also failed to impress the judges, with no awards made.

Digital entries made important strides with two gold awards. Japanese group Projector won a Black Pencil for its Uniqlock digital advertising campaign, while US agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners scored Black with its motion graphics for Milk Got the Glass.

In environmental design UK architect Stanton Williams received a Yellow Pencil silver award, while Tate Publishing scooped a Yellow Pencil in book design for Sometimes I Think, Sometimes I Am.

In branding, Canadian advertising agency GJP Advertising received a Yellow for its Down Below Menu.

The two newspaper and magazine design Yellows went to Norway’s Carl’s Car Magazine in-house team for Carl’s Cars 19-22 and to the Netherlands’ Top Publishers for Fantastic Man.

In the packaging sector, Australian design consultancy Mash received a Yellow for Changing Lanes.

Fallon’s Gorilla for Cadbury won a Black Pencil in the TV and cinema advertising category.

Winners of the 64 Yellow Pencils across 30 disciplines of design, advertising and creative communication came from as far afield as Brazil, Australia and Puerto Rico, with the UK receiving 29 awards in total.

690 entries from the 25 500 entered have been selected for the D&AD Annual 2008, which is being designed by Neville Brody.